Oklahoma has some of the toughest drug laws in the country, and if you’ve been charged with intent to distribute in Oklahoma City, it’s imperative that you have an experienced drug crime lawyer help you as soon as possible. While much of the rest of the country considers marijuana to be a minor issue, and many states even allow recreational use these days, Oklahoma remains staunch in its overall opposition to this drug.
From an Oklahoma City Drug Crime Lawyer: How Intent to Distribute Factors In a Marijuana Charge
Having a drug is bad enough in Oklahoma: if you are charged with distributing, the consequences become dire. At this point, there are mandatory minimum prison sentences. And while you might see the incident as quite minor – maybe just sharing a little weed with a neighbor who’s feeling tense – under the law, you can be charged with illegal drug distribution and treated in much the same way as a drug dealer dealing heroin in a back alley.
This is a very serious situation, and you must not wait to get the help of a drug crime lawyer. If you’ve been charged with intent to distribute, or if the police are even discussing it, say nothing. Tell them you won’t answer questions without your lawyer present and call us right away.
What Is Possession with Intent to Distribute?
This charge is a felony conviction. If you’re convicted, the minimum sentence is two years in prison with the possibility of up to 20 years, and that is even for the first offense. If it’s a repeat offense, life in prison is not off the table. The only good news here is that marijuana is not a schedule I or II drug, because at that point, the mandatory minimum sentence would be five years.
Words mean things, and never more so than when it comes to the law. Notice that the charge is not intent to sell but simply intent to distribute. This means that if you were just planning to share some marijuana at a party, you could be charged as if you were selling drugs. If you pass a joint around among some friends, in the eyes of the law this isn’t just possession: it’s a felony. Even if you have a license for medical marijuana and have less than 1.5 ounces on your person, the prosecutor may attempt to charge you with intent to distribute anyway if they think they can make a case that you were going to share it.
Does Amount Matter?
Unfortunately, Oklahoma’s laws are also harsh in that there’s no minimum amount of drugs that you have to have on you to be accused of intent to distribute. This differs from many other states, and from what you might have seen on TV, where you can avoid a charge of distribution or trafficking so long as you have under a certain amount. If the amount is too small, many states will believe you when you say it’s just for personal use: that’s not the case for marijuana in Oklahoma.
You can be charged with intent to distribute for having any quantity of marijuana at all, if they can find evidence that you planned to distribute it, by selling it or otherwise. What counts as evidence is key here, and this is one of the areas where your lawyer will go to work immediately to defend you. Your lawyer will see if there’s any way to exclude evidence, and if there’s not, we’ll challenge the assumption that certain “evidence” proves that you intended to give the marijuana to someone else.
On the other hand, it’s possible to have too much marijuana. If you have enough of it, you might trigger the Trafficking in Illegal Drugs Act, which means you’d be facing penalties at least double what you get for a first-time intent to distribute; and if it’s a repeat offense, things get much worse. For aggravated trafficking and repeat offenses, the penalties are even greater, including life without parole.
Penalties
As mentioned, the minimum sentence if you’re hit with an intent to distribute charge is two years. That also comes with up to a $20,000 fine. If you have enough marijuana, as mentioned above, you would double these penalties at the least, and possibly more if it’s a repeat offense. If you have more than 25 pounds of marijuana, the fine goes to $25,000 to $100,000, and for the first offense, you could be looking at a prison sentence of as long as 20 years. For a second, the minimum is 4 years and the max is life; for a third offense, the minimum becomes 20 years.
It’s also important to understand that if law enforcement has any suspicion that a person has been selling drugs, including marijuana, any property acquired with the proceeds is subject to seizure and forfeiture. That means they can take anything they think you might have gotten with drug money, including cars, house, personal effects, cash, and more. If this happens to you, it’s very hard to get any of that back: and it’s virtually impossible to do so without a lawyer.
What Your Lawyer Can Do
1. Protect You From the Outset
As soon as you’re charged, ask for a lawyer and refuse to answer questions. Your lawyer will then come to where you’re being held and protect you from being tricked, manipulated, or pressured into saying anything that the prosecution can use against you. Remember: you’re up against people who question folks for a living. They are very skilled at getting people to say things they didn’t mean to say or twisting words to make them mean what they want. Your lawyer has the skill and experience to match them.
2. Investigating
You can’t do much to investigate your own charges, but your lawyer will look into it all: the behavior of the officers, the circumstances of your arrest, the evidence being used against you, etc. They will actively look for weak points to press back on, start formulating a strategy for your defense, and challenge both the evidence and what the prosecution claims it proves.
3. Negotiating
There’s nearly always wiggle room. Especially if this is your first offense, a lawyer with experience in these charges and with the local courts can negotiate with the prosecution for a variety of outcomes. In the best-case scenario, they can convince the prosecution there’s no chance of conviction and the charges should be dropped entirely. That best-case scenario may not be a realistic outcome in your case, but a lawyer can still negotiate for lower charges or for minimum penalties in many situations.
4. Defending You in Court
In the courtroom, your lawyer will argue against the prosecution and do everything possible to bring evidence into question (or have it excluded altogether), question the reliability of witnesses, and defend you. The prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt whatever charge they choose to bring, so your lawyer only needs cast serious doubt to help you avoid a conviction.
If you’ve been charged with any drug crime in Oklahoma, don’t wait. Contact us at Cannon & Associates right away for help.